Oreo and Ritz Made a Cookie and Cracker Mashup Nobody Saw Coming

"Opposites attract," the saying goes. True in physics; not always in relationships. Sometimes, opposites find good reasons to hate each other. And sometimes, when two opposites are thrown together, who knows what the outcome could be?

A new collaboration between two massive brands appears to be exactly that: a chaotic mashup where inevitable curiosity is the primary objective: Ritz Crackers and Oreo Cookies are being combined into a single sandwiched snack.

Oreo dates back to 1912; Ritz was launched in 1934. And yet, Mondelez International — the corporate umbrella under which both brands have been since 2012 — says the forthcoming Ritz x Oreo hybrid is the first time the brands have ever worked together.

Purely from a visual standpoint, the combo looks sensible: the Oreo wafer and the Ritz cracker are both round with similar circumferences and thickness. But things get trickier from there: The Oreo side of the self-described "salty-sweet" mixture features one chocolate wafer covered with the usual Oreo creme. Then, the Ritz side is inspired by Ritz peanut butter sandwiches, taking a single cracker and layering it with smooth peanut butter-flavored creme. The two halves are then jammed into one for a sandwich that looks like someone screwed up at the factory.

But is it a cookie? A snack? Not to imply that the mashup can't work, but even the brands themselves don't entirely seem to know.

"Over the past few years, Ritz has been exploring innovative partnerships and experiences to spark excitement around our iconic, buttery cracker," stated Alexis Yap, Ritz's senior brand manager. "We couldn't resist the opportunity to collaborate with our friends at Oreo on a snack that's part salty cracker, part chocolate cookie, and entirely delicious. This is a collab our fans won't want to miss!"

Oreo's senior brand manager Sydney Kranzmann echoed a similar sentiment, again leaving the idea of "can" versus "should" up in the air. "At Oreo, we are constantly exploring playful ways to excite our fans, from innovative limited-edition flavors to unexpected collaborations," she stated. "This Ritz x Oreo product marks our first product collaboration with our friends at Ritz and we can't wait to hear what Oreo superfans think about this new take on the classic combination of chocolate and peanut butter!"

The thing is, even superfans may struggle to get their hands on this admittedly intriguing product. A spokesperson explained that "this very limited-edition combo" would be released exclusively at OREO.com/RITZ starting at 12 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 26. To score a pack, all you have to do is pay $3.95 to cover the shipping. But then the rep tossed out the most frustrating of LTO warnings, saying that people would have to "act FAST." (To be honest, that capitalization doesn't inspire much confidence in landing a pack!)

That said, since the results don't look that dissimilar to mushing together half an Oreo cookie with half a Ritz peanut butter sandwich, you could probably just make these yourself — which, for what it's worth, would certainly help Mondelez sell twice as many Oreo cookies and Ritz crackers.